Okay, well, at least another year or so anyway. Rose Byrne got the gossip wheels spinning this week when MTV News quoted her as saying her friends had been auditioning for a long-discussed live-action Star Wars television series. But EW has confirmed with a Lucasfilm rep that a casting agent in Australia is “doing some preliminary ground work, but official casting will not start until the scripts are complete.” At the earliest, the series would go into production in 2010, the rep added.

A live-action TV series set in the “Star Wars” cosmos has been an elusive, tantalizing prospect for years. News of the potential production first surfaced in 2005 while George Lucas was promoting “Revenge of the Sith.” Work on the “Clones Wars” animated feature film and Cartoon Network series, though, took creative precedence. In late 2007, Lucas revealed that he and his team were about to begin writing scripts for the live-action show. Now MTV News has learned that casting for the series is currently underway.

During the junket for the Nicolas Cage thriller “Knowing,” star Rose Byrne let slip that Team Lucas is casting a wide net for actors to join the show. “A lot of my friends have been auditioning for it,” she said.

According to Lucas, the show will focus on minor characters from the saga and be set in the time period between “Revenge of the Sith” (Episode III) and the original “Star Wars” (Episode IV). The action will follow the Rebel Alliance as it slowly gains strength against the Empire. There will be Stormtroopers, but no Jedi or Darth Vader will appear on screen. As he did with the “Clone Wars” series, Lucas will write and shoot an entire year’s worth of episodes before looking for a cable channel on which to air the series.

Thus, with casting just now moving forward, it looks to be quite some time before fans will be able to catch some live-action “Star Wars” on the small screen.

Bryne couldn’t have been more pleased about her time working with Lucas on 2002’s “Attack of the Clones.” “My experience was wonderful,” she said. “George is a great guy. I was just there for a week, standing behind Natalie [Portman] looking very demure and supportive. 95% of the fan mail I get is from ‘Star Wars’ and I’ve never seen them.”

As much as she enjoyed the “Star Wars” experience, Byrne, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work on FX’s “Damages,” will not be auditioning for the live-action series. “I’m on a show,” she said. “I don’t know if I look that good in space.”

Who would you like to see cast in a live-action “Star Wars” TV show? Which cable channel would be the best outlet for the series?

At last, whispers in the dark about the live action TV series! According to the MTV Movies Blog, Rose Byrne (Dorme on Attack of the Clones) reveals casting is currently in progress for the anticipated Lucas project. “A lot of my friends have been auditioning for it,” she states. This was during a promotional event for the film “Knowing” starring Nicolas Cage.

This is very interesting news indeed. It’s hard to speculate on casting candidates without knowing what characters are being cast, but more news bits are sure to be forthcoming.

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